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User blog:DQueenie13/WS4 Second Trailer Analysis
Analyzing the second trailer so I can compare my current observations to the released game. Characters Aside from Moccamori, we get a name for her butler (Libro), as well as glimpses of three other characters. One is Ethan, a "hero" who gets in Moccamori's way. Calling it now, the "route split" for WS4 will be choosing between Libro and Ethan as Mocca's boyfriend. /s Ethan is obviously well-versed in combat, shown by his armor, his easy disarmament of the soldiers, and casually threatening Mocca. Libro, the soldiers, and the Big Guy to the right are alarmed by the last part, but Mocca and the other girl with a similar ponytail don't seem shocked at all. Wonder how Mocca will get out of this situation: defeating Ethan with superior ability, talking him down, or outright killing him? (I feel like the third option is unlikely; they probably wouldn't kill off an illustrated character so easily.) The Big Guy shows up later in the trailer (1:09 mark), fighting by Mocca's side. A close inspection in that scene shows that he's definitely a deity; long ears, dark skin, white hair. His hands are also huge, so I wonder if he gave Mocca her inspiration for her claw-based fighting style. The ponytail girl to the far right in the first scene has her hair tied up like Mocca's. Since Ethan was the only one unfamiliar with Mocca, this means the girl is on Mocca's side. Her dark hair means she's human (maybe related to Libro?)—whether she's genuinely loyal, or serving Mocca because her village was subjugated, is yet to be seen. (But if she's wearing her hair like Mocca's, maybe it's out of idolization?) We can tell that she wields a huge sword, unless that sword was confiscated from Ethan, who resorts to taking the generic soldier's. Also, just saying, that girl's got one nice cravat. Lastly, Libro. My gut instinct tells me he'll somehow betray Mocca at some point in the story. If he does, I can't help but feel like it's not without reason. Poor guy's getting the tar beaten out of him during training, has to carry her huge-ass crafting recipe books when she wants to make something, and still doesn't have her trust through all of it. Honestly, I'm pretty amazed he's willing to put up with all that. That said, I noticed the three markings under his eye match Mocca's. Perhaps he tattooed it to show loyalty (making all three of Mocca's known accomplices have something in common with her physically), or maybe he has some deity blood in him. So there's a chance his loyalty is genuine. Combat Replacing Eirudy's Swordsmanship is Mocca's Claw Attacks, seen at various points of the game. At 1:17, we see up to 6 options, so that may be the maximum amount. At 1:05, there are only 5 options (the far left one at 1:17, which is selected as the attack which makes Mocca bounce around the screen, isn't available). This indicates that the Research Levels from WS3 are making a return. In a departure from the previous two games, her attack options aren't increasing number of attacks, but different types of attacks. We see one large top-down swoop (based on the icon), as well as the multi-hit bouncing around that seems to be one of her top-level attacks. It's like a combination of Swordsmanship and Magic Swordsmanship, potentially having different effects based on the type of attack. Also notable is the 4-claw replacement of the Soul Stone -- it can be seen at the bottom left of the screen at some points, usually empty or partially-full. In combat, it's the white claw icon between the Magic and Sword options. Given part of the plot is about obtaining more power to revive her father, the Devil, it may very well be the Soul Stone by another name. At 1:31, something interesting happens. After the enemy appears, her stats show up: 5632 HP, 7622 MP, all reasonable numbers. Then there's a glow and her stats fly up in number, to 118,213 HP and 159,982 MP, about 20x the original amount. Is this a field effect? A special story-related gimmick? We'll have to find out. World We've seen a good number of places, all the better for flexing the graphical progress that's been made between each game. There's a few forests, a snowy mountain, a cave, and at least two Villages. We've seen her walk, ride her dragon, and ride a raft (water travel makes a return from WS2!). The dragon lets her travel around quickly, but it seems to have some limits, which is why she isn't just flying at every given moment. However, it also lets her bypass the distance problems in WS3, where you couldn't use regular Swordsmanship on certain enemies that were too far away. Here, Mocca's dragon flies her into range, so you can use regular attacks. Training At 1:33, we see 6 different training options. We get to see two in the video: punching (poor Libro) and boulder lifting (Mocca gets squashed). The other options are pretty familiar: Running, Meditating, Energy Ball, and Kamehameha. Training isn't without its new gimmicks, though. First, you'll notice a "Training efficiency: 100%" at the top left. Is this an indication that the number of stats gained will be affected by efficiency? And is that percentage the same one seen over the HP/MP bars while exploring the world? The world one goes up to 500% and down to 36% in the trailer -- wonder what affects it. Does higher training efficiency rates cause different animations to play? A few seconds later, we see the confirmation screen for training. The punching option has been renamed to "duel practice", and we not only see Training Efficiency (100%), but also her Duel Level (2 in the trailer, with "Training 22% until next level". The wording's kinda weird, but understandable thanks to the pie chart. The expected gains are +54 HP, +11 STR, and +3 AGI. (Original stats were 1354 HP, 190 STR, 70 AGI.) After confirming, the animation plays. At the end of it, while she's abusing poor Libro, we see her boosted stats plus a "boost bonus" indicator. So instead of giving us the entire training total, the final stats gained are shown to the left and only the bonus amount are prompted in the center. A tad misleading. In any case, Mocca gains an extra +10 HP, +2 STR, and +1 AGI on top of her original expected gains, bringing her stats up to 1418 HP, 203 STR, and 74 AGI. Immediately after, we see her trying to hold up boulders. She's done an exercise in between, since her stats in HP and STR are *slightly* higher than before (1438 HP and 217 STR) while the other are the same. The training efficiency is a mere 36%, and sure enough, while she gains her expected gains, there is no prompt about bonus amounts. One last interesting note about training: while she's exploring the world, we see her Duel Practice percentage at the bottom left of the screen. At some points she has 51%, while at others she's at 100%. What this means is yet unknown -- maybe she can train while exploring the world? Graphics Kiwi Walks hired a new illustrator and 3D artist earlier this year, and the effects are really paying off. While Suyoung's no slouch of an artist and steadily improving (just compare even Eirudy's concept art to Moccamori's), the current artist makes it look more like the style established by Jiseon Hong (WS3) and Daeun Kim (WS1, particularly the illust remaster style). The style doesn't seem to be quite exactly theirs, though, so we've yet to learn who the new artist is. Maybe after the debacle of Jiseon Hong's scandals, we won't get a name for them until the final release. In the 3D department, there are subtle but clear improvements from WS3. It's honestly pretty amazing how far the 3D modelling has come since WS1 was released 4 years ago. The animations are smoother, there's more detail—it just comes together so well. And those battle animations? Gorgeous. My only fear is how much memory and power this game's gonna require when it comes out in November. Category:Blog posts